Syd's Rope Goods

milan prep

anna and i have just landed in milan and i am, very unfortunately, sick in bed for the day. i’m using the opportunity to be a Good Girl ™️ and write a post for you all. (i’m sorry i’ve been so MIA! life is a bit overwhelming right now!)

these photos are from a tie we did last week in preparation for this trip. she’s been away on tour for the past year and in that time we’ve tied only a handful of times. so in the month that she was back in the city before we left to come ...

an update:

my friends, loves, and supporters,

life has been quite a wild ride lately, and to be honest, i've been having a hell of a time keeping up. i'm finally starting to emerge, starting to feel inspired again. here's some updates:

i moved apartments! somewhat unexpectedly!

i adopted a kitten! his name is buster and he is very tiny.

and perhaps the most relevant news: i will be moving out of studio rogue at the end of december. i'll still be doin' what i do, just wit...

~

i haven't been photographing my sessions lately, at least not with my "real" camera. here's a set from the last tie kitten and i did with the intention to shoot it, way back in june.

the details i notice most: the way her fingers curl in, and the way her belly creases within the waist rope. what do you see?

topsy turvy

i remember that i had been particularly caffeinated at the start of this tie. so caffeinated that my brain (and stomach) was doing backflips-- not exactly the most optimal start of a session for me. i remember getting to the shape in the first photo, which we quite ungracefully drop lifted into via the naka panties, and thinking "welp........now what." we essentially came straight back down the way we came. i'm not sure i'd consider this my most aesthetically pleasing tie, nor my smoothest o...

session tunez recommendations...

a small break in rope photos for some album suggestions for your next tie...

Tycho - Awake

Mindchatter - Imaginary Audience

Tonnerre - Ripples

Polo & Pan - Cyclorama

Lorn - The Maze to Nowhere

"without the gote" day 2

alright we're back for day two and my last day in milan. i have to admit my brain and my finger were both mostly a pulp at this point...

exercise one: upright small bamboo suspension. i was thrilled about the idea of the giant y-hanger on either side of the bamboo. i'm somewhat annoyed with myself that i have't tried this upper body harness again since then. this shape was very challenging for kitten--it was a LOT of chest compression, in addition to the bamboo straight into t...

"without the gote" day 1

i'm finally getting back to rewriting my notes from this workshop. (i have a system for notetaking workshops that i'll share for ya'll sometime if you'd like). honestly, this workshop was fun as hell. we did four exercises each day, each varying in intensity and complexity and playfulness, none of which involved tk. at a space where tk is at the core of their curriculum, this content was edgy for a lot of the students in the room. they see the tk as a reliable structure-- a (well tie...

lost roll of film

i did an oops. i took the roll of film from my europe trip to the lab, and i waited to long too download the scans....and the link expired. so here is the one, singular, lonely, photo i downloaded from the previews, which ironically, is from once i was back home in brooklyn. sigh.

with @anna.in.rope on 35mm

daruma

this one nearly broke my brain.

this minimal rope absolutely does not represent the backflips my mind was doing to make this happen. will and i both agreed this was equally challenging for their body as it was for my brain. oddly enough--they said the most challenging part was the rope around their ribs.

this is a variation of a shape i learned during the "without the gote" workshop with fede and marta during my last milan trip. fede calls this "the porn one" (hehe). the key is 2025-08-26 18:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post

with madeline

from a recent tie with @madalimne while she was in new york for a long weekend. we originally connected this past december in portland, and it was immediately clear that we're a good match. i flirt best with ropes :*

thank you all for your patience and continued support while i took some space from this platform. my dms are open if you have any questions or want to chat about why.

a day of privates with fede and marta

after a weekend of teaching and causing trouble in london, kitten and i hopped on over to milan (only after seeing an ad for "visit new jersey" at the london city airport??) to spend a day learning from two of my favorite people.

i had a short list of fairly specific things i wanted to learn and work, as opposed to more general concepts. the nureki tk (in photo one!), a strappado that could would work well for kitten, and the squishy shape in photo five.

now that i'm home, i've p...

very hot weekend intensive day 2

day two started out strong with a discussion, scribbly giant paper included, on "syd and kitten's principles of very hot". i'm including said giant scribbly, although i'm not sure how much sense it makes without context of the group discussion. i love the idea of breaking down our "why" and "how" into very clear and distinct categories. partially because i'm a big ol nerd and i love to talk about what goes on inside our brains, but also because i think that if we can pick apart these things, ...

very hot weekend intensive day 1

our next rope activities in london - teaching at anatomie (@anatomiestudiolondon). a literal dream that still feels a bit unreal. we started with a friday evening class of Sadistic Floor Rope, followed by a full weekend workshop "Very Hot Weekend Intensive". this was only my second time teaching this content in a two day format and kitten and i's first time teaching it together. naturally, she wore treated me to my favorite little pink slip dress of hers for day one.

exercise one, a p...

private lesson with naoko...

kitten and i's first rope-activity in london was a private lesson with naoko (@nawanaoko), and it was mind meltingly awesome. i was incredibly intimidated, and knew little about what to expect. i don't have any pictures from these lessons really, but i'll share some insights and conclusions.

we started the lesson by her asking me many, many questions. most of which i don't remember now that i really wish i did. "what is your purpose for doing rope?" "do you tie based on feeling or base...

a back-to-brooklyn update

i'm back in brooklyn after not-quite three weeks of tying my face off in europe and absolutely thrilled to share with ya'll some of my adventures and discoveries and inspirations during that time. i'll be posting ✨content ✨ over the next few weeks, but for now, here's a lil post confirming that i am indeed alive and un-jetlagged and uhm, already attempting to budget for my next trip. what an absolute joy it was to get to immerse myself in other rope communities. to see how similar and dis...

creature

my ratio of work-rope to for-me-rope has been skewing pretty far in the work direction lately. one of the disadvantages of so much travel is that when i'm home, i have to hustle. and don't get me wrong, this isn't a complaint, i love more than anything that i get to do this for my job. but what a treat this was-- to get to really lean in to a scene that had been living at the back of my mind for a while. to get to do rope that was for me (and for teo). and even more of a t...

a tea party

we had two discoveries from this tie:

1: the absolute delight and surprise of "don't-you-dare-move-your-belly"-breath-play that setting the mug on her created

2: how pleasing it was to be able to recreate this (specifically photo one) based on a photo we found from some internet perusing (i'm so sorry i can't remember who the og post was by! ah! if i do i will credit!), using adaptations that worked will for foley and techniques that fit into our risk profile. rope instagram real...

studio improvements

first thing's first: yo girl has space for ~multiple bamboos~ in the loft space of my studio now. the ceiling is low and my teeny tiny skylight is much more in view. i've moved the tatami's up there and i've got some floor cushions and rugs and amber lighting and am doing my very best to create a niiiiiice and cozy vibe.

although i can't say this tie with lana was cozy exactly. it was quite the opposite, actually. her exact request was "make it hurt". i gladly obliged. pro tip...

for science!

pulling back the curtains a bit on "hey we found a cool thing on the internet, lets try to make it" ....banter included this time.

i'd like to point out that foley's outfit matches the milk crate, which was the original inspiration for the science experiment

nosara on 35mm

let the record show that i desperately wanted to suspend emily directly over the pool, but we deemed that impossible without a proper pulley system. sigh. its probably for the better-- both for the sunburn emily got within the seven minutes it took me to waddle her from the shade to this spot and shoot, and for the health of my rope and the few times my ends accidentally dipped in the pool (no posh was packed for this trip... lesson learned).

next trip, my packing list will include: pu...

some session tunez

if you're like me and get absolute sick of all of all of your go-to music approximately twice a year, here here's some vibe suggestions for your next tie...

make a radio from:

• "cold as fucking ice" by thook. bassy and dark and moody. i put this on when i'm aiming for a bit of a steamier session.

• "give it to me" by borne. leaning more techno, not for the faint of heart. i put this on for sessions i'm feeling particularly sadistic and feral.

• an...

  2025-05-19 18:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post

reunited

i went into this tie with these silly little nervous belly butterflies-- what if i forgot how to tie! what if i forgot how to tie her! but how could i forget her exploratory squirms and her forehead scrunchies when she's really processing and her little yelps when i (accidentally) pinch her. i can't say i was surprised how easy it was to drop back into our little rhythm after nearly six months apart. tying together feels still so familiar, even after such a big break. tying with anna feels li...

a long procrastinated roll of film

the title says it all— i did it once again. i let this roll of film sit on my dresser for ~4 months before taking it to the lab. i convinced myself the photos in it couldn’t possibly have turned out good enough to be worth developing. whoopsies.

a surprisingly flippy handshake tie with Kitt (@breakmeoffsomekitt) during a visit to LA last december. what a TREAT to get to tie and shoot in natural light, ugh.

a personal tie with syd and will

i don't have anything particularly profound to say about this one (or like, uh, ever). this was a particularly casual just-for-us session, with a request from will for some big intensity and a challenge for me to improvise a bamboo harness. i'll point out that you get to see us navigate a failing futomomo 🙃 but nonetheless i was very pleased with these shapes, perhaps particularly so with the wonky futomomo.

i think more small bamboo experiments may be in my future...

with bend...

simple-ish

sometimes a little simplicity goes a long way. in this case, it resulted in a surprisingly dynamic sequence for us. i hadn't tied tenshis in a looooong time, and i nearly forgot how fun it is to be able to change the positioning of the upper body so dramatically mid tie. which also meant that anya essentially single pointed this basket tie at one point but well, anya is a tough cookie.

with @anyalita.tied , featuring her new mask and a little scandal, as a treat

HOT STUFF

as promised the goods from kitten and i's recent performance for Hot Stuff's release party

photos by @pixelvixenimaging

on performing without a plan

when i get asked to perform, there's generally two different options for what folks will ask for. option one is a tight 10-ish minute act. these tend to be more drama more main stage. they have lights and music and some sort of planned "choreography". that "choreography" is absolutely necessary to fit some sort of flippy dippy sequence into such a short amount of time, let alone a flippy dippy sequence with a storyline. this sure does satisfy the BFA degree bb in me but this...

babydoll

a way way throwback to a shoot with @alittle_vampy from january of 2023 -- one of the first "real" shoots i did after buying my digital camera. i remember fumbling with the lighting for what felt like an embarrassingly long time (i absolutely still do this), and feeling extremely self conscious about how wrinkly the backdrop was. lin was 1000% the brains of this shoot, and the reason these photos turned out positively dreamy (although a small shoutout to my diffusion filter for a little help)...

🌶 syd x anya 🌶

a spicy, flippy-dippy session-for-us in full

we we're both feeling a little sensitive this day, for reasons completely unrelated to each other. perhaps ironically, i think this helped us both "drop in" to this tie very wholeheartedly. i think the mask helped as well. i think she kinda looks like a cute fly.

i particularly love the moments at 21:23, 35:12, and 47:52 😉

@anyalita.tied and i sometime in february

a side by side

back to my fixation shape. i tied this three times in a row, on three different humans. sort of on purpose, sort of not, although that's besides the point. i loved seeing how the same combination of harnesses and structure manifested differently on each of them. the biggest differences: for foley, this ended up as a very splayed open shape, with most of the pressure in the front of her belly. for gabii, she felt this much more in the thigh wraps. for kristyn, her internally rota...